Turmoil in Africa

Although forced labor and colonization in Africa is no longer done at the hands of Europeans, exploitation continues. The Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell currently profits from the oil of Nigeria while the citizens of Nigeria receive a minimal amount of those profits.  In the article “Shell Seeks to Exploit More African Oil”, UHURU News.com exposes exploitation in Nigera:

“This exploitation is so severe that Nigeria – one of the world’s leading oil producing nations – is unable to meet the needs of its own population, and is forced to purchase oil from other countries. According to the Nigerian Labor Congress, oil-rich Nigeria spent $18.6 billion to import refined oil between 2000 and 2006.”

CNN backs up these claims in their documentary “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines”. The illegal diamond trade is another business that runs rampant through Africa. Money made from selling diamonds to companies like DeBeers, a Belgium based company, is often used to fund wars. An article from CorpWatch.com discusses DeBeers and illegal diamonds:

The DeBeers group, a mining company that acts as a wholesaler, controls 70 percent of the world’s diamonds in a given year, and many rough diamonds are processed through the diamond industry in Antwerp, Belgium, represented by the Diamond High Council. “The diamonds that are stolen come into Antwerp unregulated, unchecked,” Smillie charged. “There is a huge laundering business that is going on between Africa and Belgium.” He pointed out that 30 million carats have passed from Liberia – considered to be a transit point for conflict diamonds — to Antwerp over the past five years, representing “billions of dollars worth of stolen diamonds.” He estimated that at least 10 percent of the diamonds on the world market are stolen.

Diamond wars, blood diamonds, and conflict diamonds are mostly well known in America, but where the money is going is still a mystery to many. Since the diamond business is a huge economic factor for Belgium, investigations are most definitely constricted and put down. 

France is the only major power offering military help to African countries in turmoil. In an article from BBC, titled Africa: Is the world doing enough?: 

“In a report published ahead of this weekend’s G8 meeting, ActionAid says that Africa is slipping off the agenda of the rich world in favour of Iraq.”

The U.S. has given the most aid since 2001 with  George W. Bush’s 15 billion dollar aid package. Steve Bloomfield, The Independent’s Africa correspondent, states in his article “Popular in Africa”:

“When President Bush came to power in 2001, the US spent $1.4bn a year on humanitarian and development aid in Africa. By 2006, the figure had quadrupled to $5.6bn a year. And it is likely to get bigger. The centrepiece of Mr Bush’s aid to Africa is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), a five-year, $15bn Aids prevention and treatment programme launched in 2003. His most recent budget proposes doubling the funding to $30bn over the next five years.”

It is very ironic that, although the U.S. had no colonies in Africa, we offer the most aid to  the continent each year. Belgium does offer aid through the U.N. and plans to ramp up its donations between 2009 and 2012 (see The New Vision, Uganda: Belgium Doubles Aid to Country) but still continues to profit from illegal diamonds and exploitatious energy companies.

Although it is more than a century since the scramble for Africa began, Europe still has many exploits and powers on the continent. The vice grip private companies have on African governments is crushing. Whether it is fueling civil wars in Sierra Leone or corrupting governments in countries like Nigeria, European based corporations have an undeniable influence on the continent. The exploitation mustn’t continue, or else countries may fall under the grip of private companies and mirror the brutal colonies that once belonged to European Imperialists.